The Williams 5

Goodbye, Summer...

2009-10-13T20:51:00.015-06:00

We had a fun and busy Summer, but I have to say that I am happy to see Autumn approaching. Its my favorite time of year!! First, we'll catch you up on some of our Summer activities...

THE POOL

We spent LOTS of time at the different pools around us, way fun!

COLORADO TRIP

I (Deb) got to go back to my old stompin' grounds in Colorado for a week and visit people and places that I love!
This is the church that my family helped to build. Since then, our tiny branch has become 2 wards and there is a whole wing added to the building. I have such great memories of the great people we knew here and the times we spent with them!
This is a picture of the house I lived in until I was 17 years old. Whoever bought it must have repainted it. It looked so different. They remodeled it, too. (I peeked in all of the windows and sliding doors! Nobody was home.)
This was my Elementary school, which has also been remodeled. Holy Cow, people, slow down on the remodeling. Nothing looks the same.

I attended my High School reunion and got to see so many old friends. It was so fun and a little sobering to realize how old we all are!

4TH OF JULY

we watched the fireworks explode over the Great Salt Lake, but before the fireworks, we danced around with our friends to a jammin' band!

IDAHO TRIP: Redfish Lake and Sun Valley

We rented a cabin on Redfish Lake for 4 days. D.J. got hurt at the end of our first day there and spent the next 3 days in & out of the hospital in Sun Valley. As for the rest of us...

We had so much fun swimming, paddling and relaxing on the lake. It is a gorgeous place!

After 4 days at Redfish, we joined D.J. in Sun Valley. When he got hurt his law firm was cool enough to put him up in a sweet room at the Sun Valley Lodge. We reaped the benefits of his injury: nice pools, Playstation in each room, 3 flat screen TVs, etc... Thanks Uncle Stoel (that's what we say each time Stoel Rives foots the bill!)

It was fun to have Dad back with us!! We love Sun Valley, it is a favorite place to go each Summer.

We'll stop here and post the rest of the Summer soon!

Spring and Mother's Day

2009-05-10T18:42:00.009-06:00

Yea!!! Spring finally feels like it is here. Its starting to warm up and our front yard is all in bloom. Its fun to see things growing. It makes all of the effort I've put in seem worth it. I even convinced my husband to finish a sprinkling system for all of my flower beds. The landscape architect who designed our yard got a little crazy with the size and number of beds around our house. He knew that he didn't have to plant and care for all of the stuff in them. (The people who built our house hired him, not me.)

We are getting excited about the fact that Summer break is only weeks away! We started to plan our adventures already, can't wait!!

Mother's Day was nice and relaxing this year. I got lots of homemade cards and gifts from my family. Then my good husband made me a yummy dinner-- barbecued chicken, salad, watermelon and so on. Then he and the kids did the dishes for me, too! Its odd sometimes to think that I am old enough to be the "mom" now. It doesn't seem very long ago when I was making the Mother's Day cards with crayons and glue.

I am so lucky to have these fun, crazy, beautiful kids (and hubby) in my life!

Short Update...

2009-03-09T20:21:00.008-06:00

So, I know its been awhile, so here's a teaser for everyone. Actually it just hasn't felt like anything is exciting enough to post lately.

Kate finished her basketball season this last weekend. We need to work on Kate's aggresiveness (or should I say, "lack thereof") as she is the girl apologizing to anyone that she fouls or steals the ball from. Its kind of funny. She just doesn't want anyone to get hurt or feel bad. That's my girl. We had fun watching her games. She's an excellent rebounder and great with assists, she doesn't seem to care to be the player making all of the shots. I think that she enjoyed playing basketball, but I felt bad that most of her games were played after a full day of snowboarding. Poor girl was exhausted!

Kate has really enjoyed snowboarding this winter. Her best friend, Kylee, and her ride the ski bus up to the resort together. They have a lot of fun together. I met them at the slopes this last weekend and the three of us had a great time.

We also took a long trip to Montana at the end of January, as D.J.'s father, Dave, had passed away. It was a sad occasion but at the same time it was great to get together with all of the family. Our kids had such a good time with all of their cousins. Katelin adores her aunts, too. She got to spend a lot of time talking and getting to know them even better.

Our Grandpa Dave was such an incredible guy. He was the coolest old cowboy. He reminded me of John Wayne, without the drawl. :) Our kids loved him so much. He was Christopher's hero, and he always loved having his picture taken with him. He will be missed!

Kate and Torin were fast friends

Jenny, Kate, Josie and Whitney

Chris was schooled on the video games by Anthony & Jonah.

2008-12-25T19:38:00.027-07:00

Christmas Party
This Christmas season has been a great one! It started out with D.J. being Santa at the church Christmas party. The first photo says it all...

We begged Maren to keep the secret after she took one look at Santa and said, "Hey, that's my dad." The funniest thing was at the end of the party, when she said, in a loud, dramatic voice, "Its just too bad my dad missed seeing Santa." (Good effort with the acting, Maren!)

Maren & Santa ..................... Christopher & Santa

Making Christmas Cookies with Grandma Annie
Its tradition for the kids to make Christmas sugar cookies with Grandma Annie every year. They have so much fun and she is very patient with them. Katelin decorated all of them by herself though, as Maren and Christopher had lost interest by the time all of the cookies were finally baked and cooled. Kate did a great job, they were so cute!

Christmas Day
D.J. and I were awake at 6:00 am waiting for the kids to wake up-- I think we might have been even more excited than they were to get Christmas Day rolling! Finally at 8:00 am we woke the last child up and headed to the tree.

Casador, the dog, and Maren both give a cheesy grin.

I think we are in BIG trouble-- too many electronic games for the kids. I may have lost them for the next 7-10 years... and no, this was NOT a posed picture.

Christmas Afternoon
D.J.'s sister, Lisa, and her children came over for some munchies and relaxin'. We had fun just hanging out with them for the rest of the night. We have a great time with Lisa and her family. Our kids LOVE being with their older cousins.

Joselyn, Malissa, Deb & Mallory

Mallory gives a great tummy-rub!!

Right before bed...
Yeah, we ARE in trouble. They will forever be "plugged in." (Notice Maren crashed on the Love Sac. She was lulled to sleep by the tummy-rubbin'.)

We hope all of our family and friends had a wonderful Christmas Day!!

Some things to be thankful for...

2008-11-29T20:22:00.004-07:00

I really love the Thanksgiving Day holiday. First, I love all of the food. If I'm ever on "Death Row" I will request a Thanksgiving feast for my "last meal." I love the stuffing, sweet potatoes, turkey, ham, pecan pie, homemade rolls, etc...

This year was great because I got to share my kitchen with my mother-in-law, two sisters-in-law and my daughter. It was fun to share the cooking duties as we talked and laughed. I was reminded of doing the same thing with my mother and grandmother. I also got to use some serving dishes of my grandmother's, who passed away last month. She always set a beautiful table, and thanks to her passing on her dishes to me, I will be able to try and do the same. It was fun to see Kate learn some things,too, like how to make fluffy mashed potatoes-- although she also learned how sharp a potato peeler can be! Sorry, Kate, that fingertip should grow back...

This year we had eighteen people to our house for dinner. It was fun to get together with all of these people we love and don't get to see as often as we would like. We had lots of laughs and ate until we could only lay around and moan. It was fantastic!

Some things I am definitely thankful for...

2008-10-21T22:03:00.008-06:00

The Pumpkin Patch
Its finally Fall! We always head down to the local pumpkin patch to kick it off.
The kids always have a blast running through the corn and hay mazes
and picking out pumpkins.

Maren was insistent that she was big enough this year to pull the cart. We didn't get very far, but she did it all by herself.

A Trip to Cali

We got a wild hair and headed to California over the school break. We went to San Diego to do the beach and Sea World thing. The kids had a ball. My kids had never been to the beach before. DJ and I have always left them at home and enjoyed tropical location sans kids. So I guess it was time for them to experience it.

Sea World

Christopher is a little scientist. He was much more intrigued with the exhibits than the rides or shows. He loved the Wild Arctic exhibit and could have stayed there all day. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of him there.

Katelin was picked to meet Shamu in the Killer Whale show and she was stoked! Her main goal of the trip was to swim with dolphins, but this had to do instead.

This was cool to have her on the jumbo screen

and the trainer and Shamu rocketing out of the water.

Sand and Surf

This was a highlight for all of us. We stayed until well after dark each day. The locals looked at us like we were crazy, swimming in the cold water with no wet suits. The kids did not care how cold the water was. They were in heaven! It was cool.

Jump in, sit down & hush up cuz here we go...

2008-09-09T22:56:00.012-06:00

Ok, it has been a really long time since I've done this. I'm making up for lost time, so you might want to grab something to munch on as you read this novel... or actually its a picture book.

First, there was Sushi and it was good... D.J. is our resident sushi maker. He spends a lot of time on making it and it is AWESOME. My great friend Allison came to visit from Colorado (she brought her daughter Hailey and Hailey's friend, Michaela with her) and they requested a night of D.J.'s rockin' sushi.

So he pulled out all of the stops, making rolls, sashimi, seaweed salad, etc... Everyone ate until we hurt. It was great!!

Allison is one of the coolest people I have ever met (and I've known her since 7th grade). She is very caring and giving but also one of the funnest people to be with. I have spent many days laughing so hard with her I thought I'd pee my pants for sure. I love her to death and I am so glad that we've remained friends for all of these years!

Second was a final trip to Causey Reservoir...a bittersweet parting until next Spring when the ice melts.

We took Kate's friend, Kylee, with us, who is as cute as pie! We camped and kayaked and jumped from the rocks into the warm water. I love some of the pictures I happened to snap of these people that I love so much.

my "Jerry" just relaxing by the river

Kate & Kylee make the leap

Kate making reed jewelry like I made as a kid when my family camped.

What more can I say...

Chris went fishing one night just with Dad while the girls stayed in camp.

Third, was a Sunday afternoon when I was quick enough to get a picture of my cute kids before they ripped off their Sunday clothes for something more comfy. Chris is such a great big brother to Maren. I love how he puts his arm around her. I wasn't quick enough to get Kate-- she'd already made it inside.

Fourth, Fall soccer has started and I finally talked my kids into trying it. They both love it! It helps that their teams are made up entirely of our neighborhood kids. Its so fun to have so many great kids for our kids to be friends with. One funny thing is the size of the uniforms, I'm not sure that someone in charge got the message this was a YOUTH team. It looks a bit like they're from Scotland, with their long socks and kilts... hee hee.

Chris was bit excited about scoring a goal! Rock on, Chris!!

Kate's team is the Red Dynamites
Kate & Kylee are best buds

Kate loves to play forward but will play anywhere

Fifth, SCHOOL STARTED! I can't believe the summer is officially over. I am not quite sure if I am sad or not. We had a fantastic summer and got to do a lot of great things, see great places and spend it with so many of the people we love.

I always take pictures of the kids on the morning of the first day of school and this year ALL 3 kids were going. Maren is in preschool this year!

I have some mixed emotions about that. She loves going to preschool and has no reservations about walking through the door at school and leaving Mom behind. Hmm, a few tears or a frown would've been nice. She's such a big girl.

Kate is in 5th grade and loves her new teacher. She has become such a good student and loves to read. She's good at math, too. This is huge for her, she has come so far and we are really proud of her.

Christopher is in 2nd grade and has decided to jump into the Spanish Immersion program. The other kids in it have been in it since kindergarten, but he was on the waiting list and got in and decided to give it a try this year. I love that about Chris, he didn't stress out at all about it. He was just like, "Yeah, let's try it." He has NO idea what his teacher is saying to him (All in Spanish) but he just goes, "Oh well."

Oh, one more thing. We took in a rodeo at the Davis County Fair. I have warned you all before that I am a closet cowgirl. I have this weakness for cowboys. When I first met D.J. he was wearing Wranglers and lace-up Roper boots. Ohhhhh, give me a minute...

OK, anyway, so we got all dressed up and went to the rodeo. Here are the Williams as you may never have seen them before.

As I've told D.J., I don't want no skinny, pencil-neck boy. I want one of those big, beefy cowboys who can wrestle me a steer if I get hungry!! And I got me one (the cowboy, not the steer.)

This is one of my favorite parts when they race the flag around the arena. It always gives me goose-bumps.

This has been a busy and exciting month. D.J. and I also celebrated our wedding anniversary on August 20th. We've had some really great times the two of us and these kids just keep us laughing and happy, too! Life is pretty good!

Memories of Me

2008-08-04T22:49:00.005-06:00

I'm not sure who will actually do this--but I hope you do. It's fun to think of past good times, or bad for that matter. I guess it makes us who we are. So, humor me, and leave a memory. It doesn't have to be a big, fabulous memory, sometimes the little ones are even better--just a memory.
Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on this post, leave one or two memories that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. Can't wait to hear from you!

So, we are camping again...

2008-07-30T09:22:00.011-06:00

but this time we brought friends!! Well, actually they brought us. We got to go and hang out at the ranch Callie's family owns. It was SO fun! We had a bunch of adults, a huge mess of kids and a few dogs.
We loved hanging out by the fire each night and eating marshmallows and junk food and singing and playing the guitar. During the days we went 4-wheeling and got really dusty-dirty and then jumped in the river to wash it all off.

Christopher 4-wheelin'

Maren & Jake

catching lizards

Shannon, Callie, Rob & Deb at the red cliffs

Mom & Maren

Dad & Kate
Me & Robin

Me & the other person I love :)

Izzy & Chris--catching lizards together

The only thing that wasn't so fun was Katelin's dog, Merlin, went for a swim in the deep, fast river and didn't tell us where he was going. He got swept into an eddy (whirlpool) and almost drowned. Thankfully a river guide caught him in time. We had looked for that dog for hours when along came that river guide asking if we'd lost a dog. A few tears were shed among all of the girls in camp--especially by Kate. She loves that dog. Merlin is awfully sweet, it would've stunk to lose him!

Kate & Chris and Mom & Maren

Nate & Ben & kids and Robin & Megan

Cute Maren
But then it was off to having more fun tubing the river again and just hanging out with friends. We are really lucky to live where we do and to have such fun friends! Thanks, guys for having us along!
Summer, Deb & Rob

July has been busy...

2008-07-21T21:07:00.010-06:00

On July 10th I left for Colorado for my step-brother's wedding (with my brother, Chris, and our 5 kids in tow!)
My step-brother, Kyle, had asked Maren to be their flower girl so we got to hang out with the wedding party for the weekend. Maren even got to have her hair done at the salon with the bride, Breanna, and her bridesmaids. She looked so adorable!!

Maren was great at the wedding, even though she pulled a few "3-year-old stunts".
We had a lot of fun at the reception, too.
(That's just grape juice)

The next week all of us traveled to southern Colorado to stay at Grandpa & Grandma's ranch. They run a western Bed and Breakfast, with no shortage of things to do. The kids rode horses, drove the golf cart to the old ghost town,
played in the Indian Tipi, and we even got to ride in the stagecoach.
If it was up to Kate, she would move in there. She loves being around all of the horses. Her favorite thing in the world is horseback riding.
Her favorite horse, Bugs.

Brewster, the Belgian draught horse.
Grandpa collects carriages and buggies. He has some really neat ones. Here are just a few...

Christopher loves hanging out with Grandpa.
And Maren was digging the donkeys, they liked her, too, cuz she was their size!

Maren loved her new pink cowgirl boots!

We had so much fun at the ranch! When we left to drive home, we decided to go through New Mexico and Arizona along they way. We went to Taos, NM, which I fell in love with!! Can't wait to go back there someday. We also hit Shiprock, NM--very impressive!! Then we finished it off with Four Corners, CO, UT, AZ and NM!! What a trip. It was really fun to do this trip with my brother, who I am great friends with. Love ya, Chris!

4th of July "Williams-style"

2008-07-09T23:08:00.008-06:00

OK, so of course we went camping, but we did do all of the other mandatory 4th of July stuff: the parade, fireworks, etc...we just did it our own way.

We were camped in the Fishlake National Forest but we started out the 4th with a parade... Of four huge bull elk. This was pretty impressive. We were driving up to a mountain lake to go paddling and came around the corner to see this.

Then that night we hiked to the edge of a huge cliff and sat there and watched the firework displays of three different towns. It was great! Then we went back to our camp and gave each kid a bunch of glow-sticks and I messed around with the dials of my camera and got some pretty funky shots.

Then the next day I went on a solo walk and took some fun photos...

Some of my favorite flowers are Columbine and I'd never seen pure white before.

On Saturday we went kayaking but I couldn't get my dog to keep ahold of the paddle. I ended up doing most of the rowing myself.

There was this beautiful meadow across from the lake and Maren let me snap some photos of her...

It was a fun trip, as usual!

Whoa, its July???

2008-07-01T23:34:00.007-06:00

We have had such a great summer so far, but it is going WAY too fast! Plus we have so much more planned that I'm sure things won't slow down anytime soon... Here are some more things we have been up to lately...

Christopher & Dad Kayak to Antelope Island
D.J. loves to take each kid out on tandem kayak trips every week or so. The kids love the alone time with Dad. Plus, Antelope Island is always a great spot to see Bison, shorebirds, and all sorts of other wildlife. I think its neat that my kids appreciate the natural world surrounding them. They really enjoy it.

Christopher & Dad

Moon Lake Camping and Paddling
We found Moon Lake in a Kayaking Utah book and decided to give it a try. We had a fantastic trip! The only problem was that my camera battery ran out too fast and I missed so many great "shots". Oh well... It was so beautiful up there. We have already made plans to return this summer.

great sandy beach--the kids played for hours here.

North end of the lake-great flyfishing here!

Kate does so well paddling, and it was not easy against the wind and current. She is awesome!

Its a good trip for Chris if he can be dirty most of the time.

Causey Reservoir Camping
This is one of our favorite old standbys. We always have a great time at Causey. The water level was SO high this year that our favorite cliff jumping spots were underwater, but we had a great time as usual, anyway.

I love that photo.

(Note: Maren asleep in the back of Dad's boat, again for the 2nd consecutive year. She slept like this for hours.)

S'mores!!

I know, I know, we camp a lot. But guess what we are doing next weekend???
Umm... camping. What can I say, its one thing we all agree on, and LOVE.

Its been a while, sorry...

2008-06-26T01:27:00.006-06:00

Man! Life has been crazy the last 3 or 4 weeks! I haven't had an extra minute to get anything done. I feel like I am running in circles.
I helped pull off our church Girls' Camp mid-June, which was a huge success! It was a week-long camping trip with 15 girls who didn't much care for camping, but were fantastic sports about it! It was fun to be part of it. I love working with the youth in our church, it keeps me young and humble.

(Dani and Ellie with caterpillar noses)

We had a blast! We even rocked the zip-line and climbing wall!

Christopher's baseball team made it all of the way through the playoff tournament and only lost the very last game. They did so well, I was proud of all of them. They were a great team. Chris (lucky #5) was just happy to be part of it all. He is still in the stage where he doesn't really know or care if they won or lost. He's pretty chill. He was just excited about getting a trophy this year!

A Weekend Away

2008-05-23T11:03:00.009-06:00

We had the most fun this last weekend! My brother, Chris, invited our family to join theirs to spend Friday through Monday at the Clear Creek Family Reunion Ranch just outside Zion National Park in Southern Utah. (My bro trains dogs for the guy who owns it.) We had a blast!

Our kids are all around the same ages and they love to hang out and play together. We hardly saw the boys, once we taught them how to cast a fishing rod. Christopher and his cousin, Sam, were tireless fishermen.
There were 3 ponds at the ranch and we had private access to all of them. We could canoe, kayak, fish, swim, etc, all day long. There was even a slide and rope swing at the biggest lake.

We had been given the "Lodge" to stay in and it was huge!! It sleeps 32 people and was such a great place. The kids room had 8 bunk beds and a loft. The Lodge overlooked the pond where the kids hung out at most. So we could sit and relax and watch them. Although we didn't do a whole lot of sitting around, too much to do!

Maren was funny, she hung out the entire weekend in her swimsuit and a lifevest. Oh, and usually a pair of pink cat-eye sunglasses on her dirty face. She was in heaven!

We've been drafted to the Mariners!

2008-05-08T17:13:00.003-06:00

Christopher started baseball season in April and so far his team is undefeated! He is playing machine-pitch baseball this year, which is totally different than the laid-back, just-for-fun T-Ball we were used to the last 2 years.
His coach is so awesome and completely devoted to these boys and the game of baseball. He is quite serious about teaching these 6 & 7 year olds the game of baseball!
Christopher is having fun with it, though, which is fun to watch. He even got an in-the-park homerun last week! He is so funny. He wore his batting gloves to bed that night, just savoring the moment, I guess. He is such a great kid. I love having him around!

ABC Tag

2008-04-28T14:16:00.004-06:00

OK,I've been tagged, so...
A-Attached or Single?- Attached
B-Best Friend?- D.J.
C-Cake or Pie?- Not huge cake/pie eater-- but it would be death-by-chocolate cake or chocolate-bottom-pecan pie.
D-Day of Choice?-Friday afternoon until Sunday night
E-Essential Item?- cell phone
F- Favorite color? blue
G-Gummy Bears or Worms?- Worms
H-Hometown?- Conifer, Colorado
I-Favorite Indulgence?- fresh baked muffins or bread
J-January or July? July- camping, hiking, etc...
K-Kids? Girl, boy, girl
L-Life isn't complete without? My family and kettle corn
M-Marriage Date?- August 20th
N-Number of brothers and sisters? 2 brothers
O-Oranges or Apples?- hmm...both. I love 'em
P-Phobia and Fears? losing my husband or kids
Q-Quote?- "Stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. I am asking that we look a little deeper for good, that we still our voices of insult and sarcasm, that we more generously compliment virtue and effort." By Gordon B. Hinckley Also I like "Where there is love, there are great miracles." By Willa Cather.
R-Reason to smile?- My body may not be perfect but I can walk and run and I even did a really hard pose in yoga today!!
S-Season of choice?- SPRING, to see all of the great flowers/plants emerge after a long Winter and FALL, for the cooler weather and turning leaves.
T-Tag four people?- Jen Freeman, Jackie, Lindsay and Summer?
U-Unknown fact about me?- I am a closet cowgirl. I love a good rodeo and there's nothing sexier to me than a man who knows how to ride a horse well (Talkin' about you, DJ!)
V-Vegetable?- artichokes
W-Worst habit?- can't watch a movie without cruching on kettle corn-- sorry, DJ!
Y-Your favorite food?- Sushi, Rumbi brown rice bowls, homemade burgers.
Z-Zodiac Sign?- LEO

I'm not sure they got this right, but I'm a green girl

2008-04-17T00:03:00.000-06:00

You Are A Green Girl

You feel most at home in a world of ideas.
You're curious and logical - and enjoy a good intellectual challenge.
You're super cool, calm, and collected. Very little tries your patience.
Your only fear? People not realizing how smart and able you are!

http://www.blogthings.com/whatcolorgirlareyouquiz/">What Color Girl Are You?

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-04-13T20:03:00.001-06:00

Locks of Love

2008-04-13T14:04:00.010-06:00

I am so proud of Katelin! She has always been very kind-hearted, but she really amazed me with her desire to participate in the Locks of Love program. She heard about it a few months ago and decided-- completely on her own-- to do it. She was really touched that her donated hair would go to someone, probably a child, who was suffering from hairloss because of illness.

I have to stress just how important Kate's hair has always been to her. She loved having it long and being able to do so many styles with it. But once her mind was made up to do this, she could not be persuaded otherwise!

Kate kept her eyes closed the whole time, until the "big reveal."

She constantly amazes me with the depth of her love for others. I am so proud of her!! I might be a bit prejudiced, too, but I think she is absolutely beautiful-- with long or short hair!!

We love you, Sweetie!!!

A New 'Do

2008-04-10T13:11:00.005-06:00

Katelin turned ten on the 6th of April and for her birthday she wants to donate her long, beautiful hair to Locks of Love. So we have an appointment on Friday to get it done. We bought a hair magazine and picked out a cute short cut and she is really excited!

In the meantime...

Before

After

I have been really hesitant to cut Maren's hair much throughout her short life, but with preparing for Kate's haircut something in me snapped. I got a wild hair today and cut Maren's all off. I don't know why because I have loved putting her hair up in french twists and buns, poytails, etc... She's pretty good to humor me. But today I just went crazy-- I didn't even wait for my friend, Lindsay (who cuts our hair) to have an appointment-- I just did it myself!! I think it turned out pretty darn cute!! I meant for it to be a tad longer, but... I guess that's why they have you go to school for that type of thing.

So I think that I have Spring fever...

2008-03-14T00:34:00.011-06:00

This might even be a case of "Summer Fever" because I am jonesin' for camping, the pool or even a Popsicle. It snowed and rained again today and even as much fun as I have had this winter, I am ready for 75 degree weather, at the very least. I can't wait to be outside gardening, kayaking, camping or even barbecuing with the neighbors!! So here is a little photo journey down memory lane-- Summer 2007...

Isn't it great that we are given these families that we can have SO much fun with!! I am really lucky to be married to my best friend and have such rockin' kids!! Now if it will just warm up outside...

Ode to my friend...

2008-03-09T16:36:00.000-06:00

OK so I know that she's expecting this :-) so here is where I pay homage to the girl that was a fantastic friend, confidant, partner in crime, etc... through my teenage years.
Her name is Jackie and she just moved to Utah from Colorado a year or more ago. We met up for dinner on this past Friday night with she and her husband, Jay. And what more can I say than, "It rocked." We had a great time and it was so good to be together again.
She and Jay just celebrated their "one year" anniversary together, so DJ and I were meeting him for the first time. He is so great! He and DJ are cut out of the same cloth (which is camouflage, of course.) So they talked hunting and other such manly pastimes.
It was fun to hear Jackie laugh again-- she has had some rough times and Jay has helped to put those behind her. For that, I love ya, Jay!
It was fun to reminisce a bit, but mostly catch up on our lives since we have been apart, which has been awhile. I moved away from Colorado in 1994 to finish my schooling. Since then there have been lots of things keeping us from being as close. So it was really fun to get to reconnect a bit. Hopefully we will get to do this again now & then, as our families, jobs, etc will allow.
Good times!!! Here's to you my friend!

Basketball and bubbles

2008-02-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

Ok, so not much new happening but life is still fun here. Kate is nearing the end of her basketball season, which will be a bummer for her. She really enjoys playing on a team. She can still get a bit silly with the other girls at practice, but come game time--its all business, baby! Their team has done really well playing together this year and even won all of their games, except two.
As a mom its so incredibly fun watching her play. I really had no idea how much I'd love it. I have a hard time staying in my seat and not screaming at the top of my lungs. I would be embarrassed about this if I was the only parent doing it but I have a lot of company. Basketball may be near an end but baseball starts for Christopher in 3 weeks. So I'm keeping the pom-poms handy.

Maren and I are enjoying our "just us" time while Dad's at work and the other kids are at school. We blow a lot of bubbles and eat just a little bit of candy. (Much more than the other two kids ever got--Mom's parenting is getting much more relaxed.) We got the chance to hang out with our friend, Baby Jack, today. He is six-months old and the cutest thing! It was fun to see Maren take care of him. She hovered over him the whole time, playing peek-a-boo and covering his lap with toys. Its odd to think that she will never get the chance to be an older sister. She is used to being "mothered" by Chris & Kate that it was fun for her to be the "older" kid. She was so sweet and gentle with him. Cute!
Another cute thing is Maren on the potty. I only have limited time to get these kind of pictures. I will need them for her dating years and photo montage at her wedding. This picture was of Maren this last Sunday, after she stripped down and jumped up on the potty. I was only present after she yelled, "Mom, come look at all of this poop!" She was asking to be photographed!
I love it!

Williams Winter Fun

2008-02-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

Ok so we had to find a good way to enjoy the piles of snow we've received this winter so we rented a 4-wheeler with snow cat tracks on it. That was fun!! We took turns on it and tried not to break all the H.O.A. rules around here. Then D.J. took it on an elk hunt with my brother (D.J.'s best friend), Chris. They broke it in really well together.

PARENTAL ADVISORY:

some gruesome photos ahead...

Here is a photo of Chris- topher getting to help with his first

"skinning" of an elk. (His knife was fairly dull...) He had even done his hair into a "faux-hawk" for the occasion. He had a ball but my garage will never be the same. It looked like a movie set for C.S.I.

I thought I'd include some pix of D.J. doing some of the things he does best. D.J. works hard so we try and let him play hard, too. He has a 5 year old chocolate Lab named Casador (meaning "hunter" in Spanish) and each year this dog averages around 100 retrieves of ducks, geese, etc. Not all of those being D.J.'s shots. He hunts with a lot of different guys.

I have really enjoyed all of the comments from everyone! Come again, soon!

So here we go...

2008-02-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

Ok so this will be our maiden voyage in blogging. I have now been sent too many friends' blogs to not be interested in joining in! This should be a fun way to keep in touch with our friends and family.

We are a busy family of five with Kate being our oldest child at 10 years old. She is our basketball star, songwriter and horse lover. She is the tallest girl in the entire 4th grade. We keep telling her that "big is beautiful!" She has a fantastic sense of humor and keeps us laughing. Kate has already entered the "tween" stage and loves doing her hair and shopping for clothes. She is fun to hang out with.

Chris- topher (6 years old) is our resident "nerd",
whose Christmas wish list included a microscope and metal detector. He is an avid bug collector with over 59 bugs attached to his foam board. He is a real good sport, hanging out in the duck blind with his dad, even in blizzard conditions. He rarely complains about anything and is very mellow. He is a self-confessed "rocker", enjoying only music from the 80's hair-bands. His dad is quite amused by this. His favorite things are his 2 lizards, Speedy and Lightning.

Maren is a ball of fire and at 3 years old has already aquired some definate opinions. She is not afraid to let them be heard. She and Mom love hanging out together during the day. Even though Maren is spunky, she is so much fun to be with. She is the "Princess of Lipgloss", always having access to a tube or two. Maren is madly in love with her Daddy and loves to snuggle him. They are often found napping together on the Love Sac.

Deb is loving being a mom to these three and wife to D.J. Can you believe its almost been 15 years since we got hitched?? It seems like only 14! :)Deb has recently taken up snowboarding again after MANY, many years. It keeps her young, if she stays on top of the Tylenol. She is also kept busy being in the young womens' organization at church. Lots of crazy teenage girls to laugh and cry with!!

D.J. is keeping plenty busy with work but does get some free time to play a bit. His passion is duck hunting and often spends Saturday out at "The Club". I wish we were as passionate about eating the ducks he brings home. He wants to start doing Adventure racing again this summer. He and a friend from work do these triatholons including mountain biking, kayaking and trekking. He says that he enjoys it because he doesn't need to be in quite as good of shape as a "real" triathlete, which is hard to do sitting behind a desk 5 days a week. :)

So that's it for now...